Drug Discovery News and Research

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The drug discovery process begins with recognizing a disease or clinical condition in which there is a lack of adequate medical treatment. Once a potential drug has been identified, pre-clinical research can begin. This process includes several stages; the first of which involves identifying and validating the prospective drug’s target through assay development, high throughput screening, hit identification and finally, lead optimization. Once the pre-clinical process is complete, the newly synthesized drug candidate is selected for future clinical development.

Existing anti-obesity drugs may be effective against flu, hepatitis and HIV

Viruses dramatically increase cellular metabolism, and existing anti-obesity drugs may represent a new way to block these metabolic changes and inhibit viral infection, according to a study published today in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

29 Sep 2008

CytRx to present new data on molecular chaperone drug discovery technology

CytRx Corporation today announced that Bin Zhang, Ph.D., Associate Director of Biochemistry and Screening, will present at the monthly meeting of the San Diego "LEADS" discussion group, the premium San Diego consortium of screening researchers, to be held on October 1, 2008.

25 Sep 2008

New technology to analyse human cells

A new technology which enables scientists to identify proteins by making a map of the energy flow inside the protein is revealed in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.

23 Sep 2008

S*BIO initiates trials of oral JAK2 inhibitor for hematological malignancies

S*BIO Pte Ltd today announced the initiation of multi-center Phase I clinical trials of SB1518, a potent and orally-active JAK2 inhibitor, in patients with leukemia and certain types of lymphoma.

17 Sep 2008

Geron issued U.S. patent for cardiomyocytes from human embryonic stem cells

Geron Corporation has announced the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 7,425,448, with broad claims to cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The patent runs until at least April 2025 (subject to any patent term extension that may be available). Geron's GRNCM1 program is developing hESC-derived cardiomyocytes for the treatment of heart disease.

16 Sep 2008

Domainex has core intellectual property rights granted for Europe

Domainex Ltd (Domainex), an innovative biopharmaceutical company, today announced the grant of European Patent No.1442134 for its Combinatorial Domain Hunting (CDH) Technology.

From Domainex 14 Sep 2008

Naltrexone-derived pyridomorphinan shows promise for treatment of alcoholism

Southern Research Institute and Gallo Research Center today announced that peer-reviewed results from a study testing Naltrexone-derived pyridomorphinan (SoRI-9409) will be published in the December 2008 issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry.

11 Sep 2008

Domainex, has core intellectual property rights granted for Europe

Domainex Ltd (Domainex) today announced the grant of European Patent No.1442134 for its Combinatorial Domain Hunting (CDH) Technology.

From Domainex 10 Sep 2008

GlaxoSmithKline and Cellzome announce major strategic alliance

Cellzome Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline have announced the signing of a worldwide strategic alliance to discover, develop and market novel kinase-targeted therapeutics to treat inflammatory diseases.

10 Sep 2008

Nature inspires new highly specific drugs and organic products

The best place to seek novel compounds for pharmaceutical drugs, alternative energy sources, and a host of industrial applications, is within natural systems that have evolved over millions of years.

2 Sep 2008

New beta-blocker for heart disease and angina

Researchers at The University of Nottingham have been awarded £2.8 million by the Wellcome Trust to develop a new drug that could ease the suffering of hundreds of thousands of heart disease patients who are unable to take beta-blockers.

28 Aug 2008

Galapagos acquires structure-based drug discovery from Sareum

Galapagos NV and Sareum Holdings plc has announced today that Galapagos has acquired Sareum's assets in drug discovery services, for a total cash consideration of EUR 695,000 (£553,000). These assets will position Galapagos' service division BioFocus DPI strongly in the growing field of structure-based drug discovery.

26 Aug 2008

Breakthrough discovery may lead to new drugs to fight bird flu, other epidemics

Researchers at Rutgers University and The University of Texas at Austin have reported a discovery that could help scientists develop drugs to fight the much-feared bird flu and other virulent strains of influenza.

25 Aug 2008

NicOx updates on PF-03187207 and research collaboration with Pfizer

NicOx S.A. has announced the results of a dose-ranging phase 2 study conducted with PF‑03187207 in Japanese patients with glaucoma by its partner Pfizer Inc. PF-03187207 is a nitric oxide-donating prostaglandin analog. The study was designed to compare the safety and efficacy of several doses of PF-03187207 to Xalatan (latanoprost) and enrolled 112 Japanese patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

25 Aug 2008

Eli Lilly acquires SGX Pharmaceuticals

Eli Lilly and Company has announced that it has completed the acquisition of SGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:SGXP), a San Diego-based biotechnology company focused on drug discovery and development in the area of oncology.

20 Aug 2008

Spice-based compound to fight against cancer

Seeking to improve on nature, scientists used a spice-based compound as a starting point and developed synthetic molecules that, in lab settings, are able to kill cancer cells and stop the cells from spreading.

17 Aug 2008

Diakron licenses anticoagulant drug candidate from Merck

Diakron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today the signing of an exclusive license agreement for a novel investigational oral anticoagulant drug candidate discovered and developed through Phase I clinical trials by Merck & Co. Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Diakron has the exclusive rights to develop, and, if approved, market and distribute the compound worldwide.

13 Aug 2008

Researchers find a cancer-inhibiting cyanobacteria that grows on coral reefs

University of Florida College of Pharmacy researchers have discovered a marine compound off the coast of Key Largo that inhibits cancer cell growth in laboratory tests, a finding they hope will fuel the development of new drugs to better battle the disease.

10 Aug 2008

Research team creates human ALS motor neurons

A team of researchers from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) and Columbia University, in a collaboration catalyzed by the Project A.L.S./Jenifer Estess Laboratory for Stem Cell Research, has demonstrated that pluripotent stem cells generated from a patient with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) can be directed to differentiate into motor neurons - the very brain cells destroyed by ALS.

31 Jul 2008

Researchers find key mechanism of cell damage in aging and disease

Researchers have taken a first snapshot of how a class of highly reactive molecules inflicts cellular damage as part of aging, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and Alzheimer's disease to name a few. According to a study published today in the journal Cell, researchers have discovered a tool that can monitor related damage and determine the degree to which antioxidant drugs effectively combat disease.

24 Jul 2008